The Message Bible MSG
New International Version NIV
8 This was the Holy Spirit's way of showing with a visible parable that as long as the large tent stands, people can't just walk in on God.
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The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning.
9 Under this system, the gifts and sacrifices can't really get to the heart of the matter, can't assuage the conscience of the people,
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This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper.
10 but are limited to matters of ritual and behavior. It's essentially a temporary arrangement until a complete overhaul could be made.
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They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.
11 But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven's "tent" - the true Holy Place - once and for all.
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But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation.
12 He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all.
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He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
13 If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior,
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The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.
14 think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out.
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How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
15 Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God.
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For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
16 Like a will that takes effect when someone dies, the new covenant was put into action at Jesus' death. His death marked the transition from the old plan to the new one, canceling the old obligations and accompanying sins, and summoning the heirs to receive the eternal inheritance that was promised them. He brought together God and his people in this new way.
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In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it,
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because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.
18 Even the first plan required a death to set it in motion.
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This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.